


Misbeliever

by twentyfiveplanes



Category: Twenty One Pilots
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-19
Updated: 2017-02-19
Packaged: 2018-08-31 23:12:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 3,558
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8597503
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/twentyfiveplanes/pseuds/twentyfiveplanes
Summary: Tyler is being haunted by red stains on everything he sees and a dark shadow that only seems to appear to him.Then he meets Josh. A boy who doesn't talk to anyone and isn't talked to by anyone. Anxiety follows his every action, filling him with doubt and fear. Will Tyler and Josh be able to help each other, or will they destroy themselves first?TW: mentions of self harm & violence





	1. Red

Red. Everywhere. Covering the walls, the floors, staining the backs of Tyler's eyelids. And no matter how hard he rubbed his eyes or scrubbed his walls or washed his floors, it wouldn't go away.

Tyler lay in his bed watching shadows dance on his blood-red ceiling. He closed his eyes and wished that when they opened the ceiling would go back to its normal boring tan color. His eyes flew open hopefully only to be met with red. Tyler sighed and closed his eyes again. In his mind melodies and whispers bounced around his skull constantly. It made sleeping impossibly hard, not to mention terrifying.

Tyler's eyes fluttered open again, but they were not met with a red ceiling this time. 

A dark shadow stared into Tyler's face, studying every inch. Tyler opened his mouth to scream but the shadow clamped a cold fist over it. "Who are you?" Tyler tried to say. 

The shadow tilted its head and smiled evilly at him. It's face was blurry; a deep black with flecks of red. It made Tyler's blood go cold. 

The figure traced a long finger along the side of Tyler's face and then over his scarred wrist. The faded marks burned as if they had just been carved. Tyler yelped in pain and fear of what was happening. "Why are you here?" 

Before the shadow could do anything, Tyler's door opened. His brother Zack came into the room with a confused look on his face. "Tyler who are you talking to?" He asked. 

Tyler looked at him in shock, then back at the shadow. It grinned again and laughed quietly. "You can't see it?" Tyler croaked. 

Zack took a small step towards Tyler. "There's nobody there, Tyler." 


	2. Fear

Josh's eyes scanned the classroom. They skimmed past the teacher, who was busy on her phone. They landed on each student, carefully making sure that none of them posed a threat to him. He was sitting in the back, which meant he could see everyone and no one cared enough to talk to him. Josh preferred it that way.  
The seat next to Josh was empty. It always was. It meant he didn't have to worry about talking to some classmate. Talking to classmates meant possibly saying something wrong. And that never ended well. Plus, he could put his bag there.  
But this day was different.  
Josh was minding his own business and reading a book about space. Josh had taken a liking to space recently. It seemed a lot calmer and emptier than earth, which he liked.  
The door flew open and a boy rushed in. He was short and thin with hair sticking up in all directions and a hoodie. He was kind of cute, but Josh would never dare admit that.  
"I... I got switched into this class," he muttered. The teacher looked up from her phone, annoyed.  
"You can sit in an empty seat," she said. His heart felt as if it had stopped. The only empty seat was next to Josh.  
The boy nodded and shuffled over. He stared at the bag on his seat and turned red. "Can I sit here?"  
Josh grabbed the bag and threw it on the floor. "Yeah," he mumbled. He could feel his face getting hotter and hotter.  
The boy sat timidly and pulled a notebook out of his bag. He immediately began jotting down something. Josh tried not to look. "What if he's writing about me?" He wondered, fear beginning to cloud his mind.   
The boy looked up suddenly. "I'm Tyler, by the way. I feel like I should say that." He smiled awkwardly.  
Josh grinned. "I'm Josh."  
Tyler's smile grew. "Nice to meet you Josh." He turned back to his notebook and scribbled furiously. 

Josh walked out of the school that afternoon, thinking about the encounter with Tyler. It had been interesting, to say the least. He felt different around him. Less nervous about tripping over words or messing the situation up somehow.  
His calming thoughts were interrupted by a foot sticking in front of his sneakers and the concrete coming closer to his face. Laughs filled the air. Josh felt a sharp pain in his side as someone kicked him, then a shoe collided with his face. The pain was immense. He grabbed his nose, which was leaking blood. More laughs filled the air, then they walked away.  
"This is why you shouldn't talk to people," Josh thought bitterly. "They stab you in the back and kick you in the face."


	3. Snow

It was snowing.  
Tyler looked out of the window at the red-stained snow and sighed. He had always loved the way the white snow sparkled in winter. It seemed that he might never see that again.  
A hand grasped his shoulder and he didn't have to turn to see who it belonged to. The shadow had been following him constantly since their first encounter. It filled his sleep with images of his loved ones dying and his waking moments were full of fear and cold.  
Except one day. The boy in his class, Josh, had made him feel different. He wasn't afraid of him. If anything, he felt pity for him. It didn't take a genius to tell that Josh was afraid. "Look who's talking," Tyler thought. He brushed the thoughts away. "Josh doesn't deserve that fear. I barely know him, but no one deserves that."  
The shadow traced its fingers along Tyler's cheek, bringing him back to the present. It grinned at him as it closed its fingers around his neck. Tyler's breaths became more forced. He grabbed at the shadow's wrists, but his hands passed through it. He tried to yell for help, but no words came out. He felt panic begin to fill him.  
Tyler felt dizzy. The room began spinning. He waved his arms around, trying to hit the shadow, although he already knew such a thing was impossible. "Please, Zack. Jay. Anyone. Help me," he managed to whisper. He felt the hands begin to loosen and took the opportunity to jerk away and crawl towards the window. He yanked it open and eased himself outside. His window was only a few feet off the ground, so he landed softly on top of his mother's daisies. He straightened himself up and began to run away as fast as his legs would carry him.  
Snow landed on his arms and melted there, leaving him wishing that he had grabbed a coat. But being cold was better than being choked by the shadow. The snow began to fall faster, making his teeth chatter and slowing his pace. He tripped over a tree branch and landed face-first into a snow bed, the snow making his face sting with cold.  
He sat there for what seemed like forever. "Is this the end?" He wondered.  
"Are you okay?" Came a timid voice. Tyler felt himself being pulled up out of the snow and dusted off. He was turned to face the person who had helped him.  
It was Josh.  
Josh looked at him with a concerned expression on his face. "You're freezing. Your lips are turning blue. What are you doing here?" Without waiting for an answer, he took off his jacket and wrapped it around Tyler. "Come to my house. I'll fix you up," he said as he led Tyler down the sidewalk.  
Tyler's head spun with what was happening all of a sudden. But he was glad that he hadn't stopped to grab a coat.


	4. Josh

Josh stared at the boy seated across from him. Tyler was perched on the edge of the couch, wrapped in every blanket Josh could get his hands on. He took small sips of hot chocolate from a big red mug. They were both silent. Josh wanted to break the ice somehow, but he had no clue what to say. Or what Tyler wanted to hear. Heck, he barely knew anything about Tyler.   
Josh had been walking down the sidewalk when he found Tyler. Terrified and unsure of how long he had been in the snow, Josh took Tyler to his house. At the time, it had seemed like the obvious choice. But he was regretting not taking Tyler to his own house instead, wherever that was. Or even to the hospital. The silence between them was almost too painful to bear.   
Josh was shaken back to the present by a choking sound. Alarmed, he looked up at Tyler from where he had sat staring at his sneakers. Tyler's face was buried in his knees, which he was hugging tightly. The mug hung from his hand, empty. He was crying, his body shaking with each fresh sob.   
Before he knew what he was doing, Josh was sitting on the couch next to Tyler. He reached his arm across Tyler's shaking body and carefully pried the mug from his tiny fingers, setting it on the carpet gently. Then, his arms were wrapped around the mountain of blankets that was Tyler, and his red hair was hovering close to Tyler's brown fluff.   
Tyler looked up. His bony face was streaked with tears. His beautiful sinkholes of eyes were rimmed with red, puffy skin. He sniffled and stared at Josh with a look of fear and surprise, like a deer caught in headlights. Josh took his arm from where it had rested on Tyler's back and wiped his tears away with the sleeve of his soft black sweater. Tyler froze.   
"Are you okay?" Josh said softly. Tyler shook his head. "What's wrong?"   
Tyler took a deep, shuddering breath. He opened his mouth to speak, but instead began to cry again. Josh placed his arm around him again and hugged him close, feeling him calm down. Tyler began to lower his head to his knees, but Josh held held his chin and slowly angled it up so that their eyes met. "I want to help you," Josh whispered. Tears welled in Tyler's brown eyes.   
Tyler laughed a sad, hollow laugh. "You can't help me," he croaked. "You don't know me. I'm sick. I'm broken beyond repair."   
Josh felt a pang of sadness deep in his chest. "Don't say that," he said, his voice cracking. "You're unique. You're special. Don't give up on yourself."   
Tyler shook his head, but his cheeks had turned a light pink shade. Josh grinned, his eyes squinting as he smiled. He let go of Tyler's chin and gave him a big squeeze, trying to wrap his arms around all of the blankets. It wasn't hard, seeing as Tyler was quite small for his age.   
Josh closed his eyes and relaxed. He felt Tyler relax as well, and soon he had put his arms around Josh as well.   
"Fucking gay," came a mocking voice from behind them. Josh and Tyler's heads flew up as if they had been shot. The source of the voice was Josh's brother Jordan, standing in the doorway.   
Josh felt his face become uncomfortably hot, and he was sure that he had turned redder than Tyler's mug. "J...Jordan, this is Tyler."  
Jordan gave Tyler a friendly nod, then focused back on Josh. He was clearly very amused at the spectacle playing out before his eyes. "I'll leave you two. You're clearly quite," he paused, pretending to think deeply about his next choice of words, "busy." He said the word clearly, annunciating each syllable. He grinned at Josh and winked before going upstairs to his room.   
Josh looked over at Tyler frantically, expecting him to be embarrassed, or even crying again. To his surprise, Tyler laughed for the first time since he and Josh had met.


	5. Sleep

Tyler awoke, his heart racing and palms sweating. He looked around at the room. It was dark, with a thin beam of sunlight illuminating the bed from a crack in the wall. There was no trace of red here, which worried Tyler. There was always red following him. Even if it was a small flash, it was there. But there had been no trace of it in Josh's house.   
That's where he was, Tyler realized. He looked down at the blue blankets covering his legs, and another pair next to him. His head turned and his eyes fell on a sleeping Josh, a beam of sunlight dancing on his face. Tyler felt his stomach tingle, as if thousands of tiny butterflies were flapping about inside. He pushed the thought away, but he couldn't ignore the feeling.   
Remembering the way Josh had hugged him and calmed him the previous day, Tyler reached over to Josh carefully and wrapped his arms around him lightly. He studied Josh's face. It was calm, happy. Beautiful. Tyler touched his nose softly, smiling at the small smile that appeared on his sleeping face. Tyler wondered what he was dreaming about.   
After Jordan had retreated upstairs the previous day, Josh had become infinitely more awkward. Somewhere inside, Tyler secretly liked it. He began to open up to Josh, and watched Josh become more comfortable around him. It was such a nice feeling that Tyler almost forgot about the reason he had ended up here. But he didn't. And his happiness began to fade rapidly when the memory of the red stains and the shadow he had to return home to resurfaced.   
"Josh," he had blurted out, "can I stay here for the night? I don't want to return home quite yet." He swallowed and wiped at his eyes. Josh picked up the hint and didn't press any further. He blushed and nodded before scurrying off to find Tyler warm clothes and other necessities. Tyler didn't think much of Josh's flushed face and embarrassed smile at the time, but it seemed strange to him now.   
Tyler looked down at the clothes Josh had lent him. They were loose and baggy on Tyler, as they were Josh's size. Josh had given him a faded Blink-182 shirt and black sweatpants. They smelled like deodorant and pine trees. Tyler wasn't sure where the smell came from, but it was comforting. He moved closer to Josh to look at his Green Day shirt with the album art of Dookie plastered on the front. From the conversations they had held, Tyler knew Josh loved that album.   
Josh began to stir, his eyes fluttering open. "Tyler," he mumbled. He ran his fingers through his red hair, which was fading to a more pink color. He yawned, then looked around. His eyes fell on Tyler's small arms, which were still wrapped around him. Tyler felt his face burn and began to move away, but Josh stopped him. He reached out and ruffled Tyler's soft brown hair. "Good morning, Ty," he grinned. "You look so cute."  
"What?" Tyler exclaimed. He was sure he had misheard.   
"I said you have to leave soon," Josh said, yawning. "I had a great time with you though." Tyler nodded, though he was sure he had heard Josh say something else. His fear of the shadow came back in full force.   
"Josh," he began to protest. But Josh had already wiggled out of Tyler's grasp and left the room.


	6. Blood

Josh watched Tyler walk through the snow from a window in the front of the house. He had given him a massive, fuzzy coat to keep him warm, saying, "I don't want to see you laying face-first in the snow again. At least not without a jacket." Tyler had laughed nervously. He had left Josh's house with a smile on his face, but Josh could see the terrified look in his eyes. He wished he hadn't told him to leave.  
It had all been a blur. Josh saw Tyler laying next to him and needed to tell him he was cute. Because he was. Josh had never been more attracted to anyone in his life. But upon realizing what he had said, he quickly tried to cover up his tracks. "Tyler probably doesn't like me that way," Josh thought. "Besides, telling people stuff like that only gives them the upper hand. I can't let Tyler take advantage of me."  
Now here he stood. Watching Tyler grow further and further away and wanting nothing more than to run and hug him and never let go. 

Unbeknownst to Josh, Tyler's train of thought was driving along the same track. "I should've hugged him more. Heck, I should have kissed him. I know I'll never get the chance now," he muttered. The further he went from Josh the more fear overtook him. Red shadows and red snow and visions of blood and sorrow filled his mind and stained his eyes. He rubbed them, knowing very well that nothing would change.  
He arrived at his house shortly. Everyone was asleep. Tyler went upstairs quietly and locked the door to his room. He wanted to be alone. Only when he turned away from the door did he remember the shadow.  
It was suddenly all around him, circling as if he were prey and it was a predator. It scratched the door, leaving marks on the smooth wooden surface. Tyler turned to fumble with the lock but was pushed back. He landed on the floor, all of the air knocked out of him. The shadow slithered over to him, laughing evilly. It grabbed Tyler's arm and scraped long gashes in his flesh with its claws. Blood poured from his arm to the floor. Tyler screamed. The shadow threw back its head and laughed. Tyler saw red flash before his eyes, then watched as Josh ran into his room and was slashed to pieces by the shadow. A choked scream came from his mouth, and the shadow clapped its hand over his mouth.  
Tyler came to his senses and did the only thing he could think of. "This isn't real," he said. The shadow curled its hand around Tyler's throat and squeezed. "You aren't real," Tyler gasped. "This is a dream. This is my imagination."  
The shadow smiled at him before raising him up as far as its arm would extend and throwing him to the floor. Tyler passed out, a sea of deep crimson flowing by his eyes.


	7. Panic

Josh tapped his pencil on the top of the desk anxiously. At the front of the room, the teacher droned on about some war or someone long dead killing someone else. Josh didn't like history. He didn't like thinking about all the times people stabbed one another in the back, quite literally sometimes.  
He glanced at the clock, then at the empty seat next to him. Tyler was 20 minutes late. Josh had been looking forward to seeing him. They hadn't spoken since Tyler left Josh's house. Josh was eager to talk to him again. Not only because he thought he was incredibly cute and wanted to be close to him, but because he had given him his only warm jacket.  
The teacher opened his mouth to speak when Tyler entered the room. He closed the door quietly, but still everyone turned to face him. The teacher raised an eyebrow and droned on. Tyler shuffled over to his seat and put his stuff down, pulling his hood over his head and burying his head in his arms. Josh's spirits fell. Tyler looked miserable.  
"Tyler?" Josh asked gently. He reached out to touch Tyler's arm. Tyler jerked it away, wincing in pain. Josh became concerned. "Are you okay?" He began to worry. "Did someone hurt you?"  
"Please don't call attention to me," Tyler hissed, his voice sounding as if he were on the brink of tears. It broke Josh's heart to see him that way. He carefully but firmly took Tyler's arm, ignoring his attempts to pull away. Josh rolled up Tyler's sleeve, taking special care to be as gentle as possible.  
Tyler's arm was a bloody mess of gnarled flesh and deep gashes. Line after line of slashed skin went up Tyler's arm as far as his sleeve would roll up. Josh backed away in fear and shock. "Who did this to you?"  
Tyler yanked his arm away. "It's not important," he said, a tear rolling down his cheek. People at nearby desks began to take notice.  
As well as the teacher.  
"Mr. Joseph and Mr. Dun," he said in a bored voice. "Would you care to tell us what you two are chattering about?"  
"I need to go to the nurse," Josh sputtered. "I feel like I'm about to puke everywhere."  
"Spare us the details," the teacher mumbled. "But go if it means I can teach my class." Josh nodded and wasted no time in grabbing Tyler's uninjured arm and pulling him into the hallway. 

The nurse called Tyler's parents immediately, much to Tyler's dismay. He began to cry profusely in the shiny white nurse's office. Josh tried to comfort him but he refused to acknowledge him. Josh felt a pang in his heart. Had he done the right thing?  
Tyler's parents arrived soon after being called by the nurse in a frenzy. They took a look at Tyler's arm, which he was desperately trying to conceal, and whisked him out of the school. Josh tried to follow. He ran out of the school doors to see Tyler's mother pushing him into a car. "Tyler!" He cried as the door shut. Through the window, Tyler's eyes met his. Big, puffy sinkholes that were full of fear and anger for Josh.


End file.
